○ Team members may vary greatly in their ability to use the group’s chosen communication
IMPROVING COMMUNICATION IN VIRTUAL SMALL GROUPS
• To help any virtual small group that you’re a part of communicate better, consider these
guidelines:
1. Determine the best communication method. For routine matters, electronic messaging—
like email and instant messaging—may be all the group needs. For complex tasks and
2. Provide specific directions before meetings. Take time-zone differences into account
3. Involve all group members. Make sure all participants have a chance to contribute to
4. Use the cooperative principle. It’s especially important to craft informative, honest, clear,
5. Attend to the group’s social needs. If virtual teams are able to meet occasionally face-to-
face, this will promote team identity and foster group cohesion. When costs, time, or
distance get in the way of such gatherings, help your team develop other ways of
attending to members’ social needs. Make time for conversations about things other than
CLASS DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
1. Discuss why a group decision can lead members to feel a greater commitment to the
decision than a decision made by a leader acting alone. Give an example of a leader’s
decision that you feel could have been improved if it had instead been made by the
group.
• Have students present their examples and discuss why they think a committee or group
2. Within a small group, what would be the advantage of having a strong culture with
clearly defined norms and roles? How might a member of a small group help create a
strong group culture? Give an example of a group that you feel has a strong culture.
Explain why.
• Allow students to share their examples of groups that have strong cultures, and discuss
what advantages these groups have. Ask students to think of an example of a group that
3. Think of a group that you are a member of and determine whether members of the
group perform single roles or multiple roles. What could a group gain by having its
members play multiple roles? How might the members themselves benefit from dual
roles?
4. How can the presence of someone in a social-loafing role affect a group’s overall
productivity? What can other group members do to overcome the social loafer’s
effects on the group?
5. Think of a time when you had a very positive small group encounter. List five
factors that contributed to making this small group encounter positive. Now think of
a time when you had a very negative small group encounter. List five factors that
contributed to making this small group encounter negative.
• Discuss common characteristics of the positive small group experiences and then the
VIDEO SCENARIOS
HOW TO COMMUNICATE: SOCIAL LOAFING
This video feature shows students competent communication skills in action based on the
scenario following. The first video illustrates an ideal outcome, whereas the What if?
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challenges prompt them to apply their own skills to times when their communication partner is
more difficult. To access the videos, go to macmillanhighered.com/choicesconnections2e.
Assign students to watch the videos and answer the questions before class, and then they can
discuss the ways they would respond to each variation of the scenario.
1. Note instances of social loafing and use “we” language to remind Paul of his
responsibility to the group.
You might say, “At the last meeting, we agreed that we all would have our parts of the
presentation ready for today.”
2. Remain open-minded to possible reasons of why Paul is withholding effort, and remind
him of how much you value his participation.
3. Present a clear plan for what you’d like Paul to do, making sure to check whether it
works for him—so he feels like a solution has been mutually agreed on rather than being
told what to do.
You might say, “How about emailing us your slides by Friday so we can get the
presentation set up? Does that work for you?”
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Instructor Note: Online, students will be asked a multiple-choice question after the first
video. For Chapter 11, it is the following:
By confronting Paul about his missing slides and getting him to agree to a new deadline,
Maeve is performing a (an) _____________ for the group.
D. formal role
[The * indicates the right answer. Depending whether the student answers the question right or
wrong, one of these two feedback options should appear:
Right answer: Congratulations, you are correct!
Wrong answer: Incorrect. In small group communication, task roles are ones where the
communication focuses on a duty or goal important to the team. By getting Paul to complete
WHAT IF?
This section challenges students to adapt their skills and communication plans when things
don’t work out as shown previously. Students will view two videos. In each video, the
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1. How would you respond when Paul shifts blame to another group member by saying, “Why
don’t you ask Jacob? He never sent me the information that I needed to finish the graph.”
You might say, “I’m sorry; I was unaware that Jacob didn’t get that information to you.
Did you email him about it? Next time, if you don’t feel comfortable contacting him, let
me know, and I will be happy to pop him an email. We have to work together if we are
going to get this done.”
• Discuss how it is possible to keep an open mind when Paul shifts the blame, but also
2. What if Paul avoids you and rushes off, saying, “Hey, can you just text me? I have to get
to my cinema class.” How can you make sure he does his work?
You might do the following:
• Agree to send him a text and then follow up with an email. If Paul doesn’t respond in a
CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES
1. Group Challenges: Creative Logos
Goal: To allow students to experience the challenges of the small group decision-making
process
Time: 45 minutes
1. Divide class into groups of five or six.
2. Explain that each group needs to select a product that they think could use a better
3. Have each group present their product and its new logo, explaining why they
selected the logo and how they feel it will help promote the product more effectively.
4. Once the groups have presented their logos, have each group comment on the
following:
a. Did a leader emerge quickly in their group?
b. Were there any disagreements?
c. Were there group members who did little to contribute or engaged in social
loafing?
2. Let’s Rock-and-Roll Exercise
Goal: To provide students an opportunity to analyze the effectiveness of small groups
Time: 30 minutes
1. Divide the class into four or five groups.
2. Explain to the groups that some of the best examples of effective and ineffective
groups come from the music arena. Ask groups to brainstorm music groups and
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3. Once each student group has selected their two music groups, ask them to use their
4. Bring the groups back together to discuss their findings. Ask them to speculate about
3. Strategies for Group Motivation Exercise
Goal: To explore how individualism and collectivism can affect group motivation
Time: 30 minutes
1. Divide students into three groups.
2. Assign each group one of the following characteristics:
a. A group composed of people who have individualistic tendencies.
3. Ask each group to discuss how a group member could best motivate their assigned
group. What types of activities would they suggest to help motive the group? What
types of problems might arise within their assigned group?
4. In-Class Group Best Practice
Goal: To encourage students to take concepts discussed about effective small groups and
recognize how they can be used in everyday settings
Time: 30 minutes
1. Divide the class into four groups.
2. Explain to students that it is common to hear that in-class group activities are
ineffective. With this in mind, ask students to brainstorm and create a list of common
3. Have each group use its list to develop a set of “Best Practices” for group
assignments.
4. Give students an opportunity to present their best practices to the larger class.
5. Using the individual group lists, next have the class agree on one master list of best
5. Impromptu TV Group Project
Goal: A fun activity that allows students to use group skills to complete a project in a
timely manner
Time: 60 minutes
1. Create a list of different types of themed TV channels, such as HGTV, Court TV,
3. Have each group draw one of the channels from the hat.
4. Explain that each group has 20 minutes to create a “mini” episode from a TV show,
real or imaginary, that would appear on their network. Each group member must
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6. Discuss the exercise with the class. How well did each group work together on its
assignment? What went well? What required improvement?
MEDIA RESOURCES
1. “Build a Tower, Build a Team”
Tom Wujec, a software engineer at Autodesk, discusses what the team-building exercise,
2. “Building a Team—Team Communication”
Performer Richard Tyler’s 8-minute video examines team building, focusing on team
3. Howard Rheingold: “The New Power of Collaboration”
Writer and artist Howard Rheingold discusses the importance of collaboration,
4. “Effective Teamwork: Lessons Learned”
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In this 5-minute video, Dr. Farrokh Alemi of George Mason University discusses
effective teamwork and ways to improve group communication. You can find this video
on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FiXt_74o2_w. A second group lesson
5. Lost (ABC, 2004–2010)
Have students watch an episode of the television show Lost to find examples of the group
culture, specifically the effects gender has on group behavior. This series follows a group